WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. officials Monday charged two former Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. managers with fraud in an alleged plot to manipulate earnings data in 2000 and 2001.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said Frederick Schiff, who had served as chief financial officer, and Richard Lane, former worldwide medicine group president, directed the drugmaker to sell large amounts of its products to wholesalers ahead of demand and improperly recognized revenue from $1.5 billion of these sales to its two largest wholesalers, MarketWatch reported..
The commission also said that when results fell short of analysts' expectations and the company's own targets Bristol-Myers improperly used reserves to inflate earnings, the SEC said.
On Aug. 4, Bristol-Myers paid $150 million to settle related SEC charges.
